Carburizing material.



UNliT STAT CHARLES STAFF, OF ROYAL OAK, MICHIGAN.

GARBURIZING MATERIAL.

No Drawing,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES STAFF, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Royal Oak, in the county of Oakland and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Carburizing Material, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

The invention relates to the art known as cementation in which iron or steel is carburized by treatment with a suitable carburizing agent under high temperature.

In the present state of the art various substances have been employed as carburizing agentssuch, for instance, as bone black, and other animal and vegetable carbons. Many of these materials, while eiiicient as carburizers have other detrimental properties, such as shrinkage under heat, loss of efficiency upon successive uses, or high cost, which prohibits their commercial use.

It is the object of the present invention toobtain a carburizing material which is free from these objections, and to this end the invention consists, first, in the treatment of the iron or steel with a material having newlydiscovered advantageous properties; and further in the specific material employed for this purpose.

My new carburizing agent is formed from a substance lmown as vegetable ivory, the botanical name of which is phytelephas macrocarpa. I have discovered that this material which is of an unusually dense Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 11, 1913.

Patented Mar. 16, 1915..

Serial No. 747,687.

hard nature will carburize with very slight shrinkage, and that it also contains chemical constituents which render it efiicient as a carburizing agent. This substance is used for the manufacture of buttons and other similar articles and the chips or cuttings forming the waste of this industry may be used for forming the carburizing material. The carburizing process may be carried out by packing the iron or steel directly in the chips or cuttings, but I preferably subject the material to a pre-heating sufiicient to carbonize it before it is employed as a carburizing agent. The carburizing is then carried out in the same manner as where other materials are used.

While I have described the specific mate rial as vegetable ivory, it is obvious that there may be other substances of a similar nature which may be employed as substitutes. The essential qualities are, first, the absence of shrinkage upon heating, and second, a chemical composition rendering it eiiicient as a carburizer.

What I claim as my invention is:

A carburizing material for metals comprising a carbonized substance known in its natural state as vegetable ivory.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES STAFF.

Witnesses JAMES P. BARRY, HENRI E. BOWMAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Gommissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

